When it comes to standoffs, Vince Wilfork and Robert Kraft have been here before

The note of optimism sounded by Patriots owner Robert Kraft on the status of Wilfork should be taken as encouraging, even in the wake of a report Monday that Wilfork had cleaned out his locker and taken down his nameplate. While acknowledging that business comes first, the owner reiterated his feeling for Wilfork, calling him “one of my personal favorites” and adding he wasn’t “giving up hope that he’ll be part of our team next year.”

“You know, going back over the last 20 years, if I was to think, we’ve had some pretty special people come through, and he’s one of my personal favorites,” Kraft said of Wilfork.

“I’m thinking of Tedy Bruschi and Matt Light and Kevin Faulk and Troy Brown, they made their careers with us. I surely hope Vince will be with us next year. In modern day athletics, in pro sports, it’s a business as well as commitment to one another. We have to work through, and I’m still not giving up hope that he’ll be part of our team next year.”

In addition, it’s important to remember that even though things look bleak now, the two sides have engaged in brinksmanship the past. Wilfork sat out voluntary team activities in the spring of 2009 as a sign of his unhappiness over his contract situation. And after a year where the team struggled, following a bitter playoff loss to Baltimore, he hammered fans for booing and suggested after the defeat he might be out the door.

“As the time ticked off the clock,” said Wilfork after the 33-14 shellacking at the hands of the Ravens, “I told some of my teammates, ‘I don’t know if this is the last game I play with you, but if it is, I’m going to miss you.’ ”

After that season, Wilfork was using potentially incendiary language when talking about the Patriots, who were threatening to hit him with the franchise tag. Wilfork said the tag would be a “slap in the face” and “insulting,” venting on an interview with WEEI.

“I’m trying to keep it positive. That’s the only way I can really look at it. Try to look at it in a positive light,” he said, “because if I look at it in a negative light, I’ll be really pissed.”

Two months later -- following a brief period where he was tagged -- Wilfork and the Patriots reached an accord on a long-term deal, and Wilfork led the way as part of a new generation of leaders in Foxboro.

Wilfork has steadfastly maintained radio silence after the initial report was released. As for Kraft, it may have been a simple slip of the tongue on Monday, but from this viewpoint, it wasn’t an accident that when mentioning Wilfork and his history with the team, Kraft listed four Patriots who ended their career in a New England uniform: Bruschi, Faulk, Light and Brown. While the financial considerations are far different -- as they approached the end of their careers, none of those four had Wilfork’s massive cap hit -- invoking those foundational elements of some of the great Patriots teams of the past give you some sort of idea of the level of esteem the owner holds Wilfork and his family. After all, two years after Wilfork fired his broadsides at the franchise, he offered very public support for Kraft in the wake of the death of his wife Myra, and could be seen giving Kraft a hug and kiss on the field before every game that season.

Of course, to make it happen this time around, both sides have to make some concessions. That means some understanding from Wilfork, who has to come to terms with the idea that he’s a big defensive lineman on the plus side of 30 who’s coming off a season-ending Achilles injury. Meanwhile, the franchise has to understand that while they don’t pay for past performance but future yields, Wilfork is a unique case, and he should be treated as such.

In the end, Kraft acknowledged Monday that business supersedes friendship -- especially when it comes to matters associated with the salary cap and the team-building process. But based on history, it seems to suggest that the final chapter involving the Patriots and Vince Wilfork has yet to be written.

“For him, he’s making some individual decisions,” Kraft said of Wilfork. “For us, we have to put a team together of over 50 people. We have a salary cap. In the end, it’s about both parties feeling it’s a good transaction and it’s a win-win. I think that’s what we’re both shooting for.

“We’ve been very close, and I’ll let Vince speak to whatever he feels is appropriate. We’re probably results-oriented and life is about execution, so either we get it done or we don’t. I very much hope we get it done, and I believe he very much would like to do it as well. We’ve been so lucky to have him. So we’ll see what happens.”

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